Looking for Flash advice....

[Insp Gadget]

My wife and I have a wedding photo business. I am currently using a D300 with an SB800 flash. My wife is using a D700 with the SB900. Recently my flash has started acting up and I think it's time for a new one. I see the SB800 is no longer available and I think the SB900 is the worst flash I have seen in ages. The high noise it creates when zooming, along with the flash shutting off after it gets warm make it a no no in my book. Can someone suggest a powerful flash (as good as the SB800) that runs cool for a decent price? Are these flashes made by Sunpak, Metz, Nissin, Sigma etc as good as a Nikon?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[tirediron]

Sunpak and Metz are good flashes, but I'd look for a used SB800 on eBay.

 

[Derrel]

Nikon screwed the pooch by killing off the SB 800...one of the dumber moves they have made in a long,long time. The SB 900 is like "new Coke" was... an alleged "great idea", born out of long research and careful questionnaires and oodles of market research, and yet, you know what---every, single stinkin' new customer says, "This sucks! Can I have my old flash back???"

Unfortunately, unlike the "new Coke" situation, I doubt that Nikon will be smart enough to simply re-introduce the SB 800. But they should! They could call it the SB 1000,and people would buy it in droves!

 

[Insp Gadget]

Couldn't agree more. IMHO, the SB800 is a much better flash for wedding photography.

 

[GeneralBenson]

Yeah. I would think you're best bet is to try and find one used. What is yours doing wrong? And could you send it into Nikon to get serviced?

 

[Mike_E]

Send it in to be serviced. It isn't doing you any good being undependable anyway.

With out knowing your style it's hard to say But I'm partial to my Metzs.

 

[Insp Gadget]

Send it in to be serviced. It isn't doing you any good being undependable anyway.

With out knowing your style it's hard to say But I'm partial to my Metzs.

I'm a candid shooter while the wife is the poser. I shoot fast trying to capture that special moment. I'd love to have a flash that can run cool. Do any have fans?

 

[KmH]

Do any have fans?

Only studio strobes.

Are you using the speedlight in TTL mode?

If you are and change to manual mode you can use the speedlight at lower power settings which also shortens the flash duration so it runs cooler.

 

[ghache]

have you take a look at the sb-600?
To shoot inside, i never had problem getting correct exposure bouncing it off ceilling and using off camera in ttl considering the GN being lower than the 800.

 

[Mike_E]

If you don't mind the tag, look at the Quantums. That's about as much bang as you can put on the top of a camera.

Quantum Instruments Inc.

There's TTL for Nikon to, as well as a 250,000 flash duty cycle.

 

[Garbz]

There's a finite number of things that can go wrong in a flash the most expensive of which is that the entire PCB is cactus. This costs around $200 to fix. A dead flash capacitor $150, or $40 if you can source the cap and do it yourself. A dead bulb $100 or $5 if you can source the bulb and do it yourself.

There's no reason a working piece of top quality Nikon hardware should be cast aside due to an intermittent fault. I guarantee you that you won't get anything near as good as an SB-800 for the cost of a repair, even if the SB-800 is completely screwed.

Oh I could cut you a deal. I'll take the flash off your hands for $100, send it out to get fixed, and then sell it to someone else for the cost of a new flash . The SB-800s are highly sought after.

 

[iskoos]

I think after all these comments, his SB 800 unit on its way to service

 

[flyingember]

for anyone in the future, the Strobist has good info on this subject.

 

[smokinphoto]

I bought an sb 800 6 days ago, and am photography a wedding this sunday - I wish I'd had the budget to buy it before, to learn the ins and outs completely. I have been practsing all week, out doors & in, bounce, card, diffuser etc. (my sister & my kids are all getting pretty fed up with me pulling out the camera every 20 mins!) and have managed to get a good grasp of it. Of course the situations at home are completely different to a wedding! It is in a stately mansion, not a church, and although I have been there before with the B&G, I cannot get in with the flash before the wedding. Fortunately, the main rooms have white ceilings (although fairly high) and fairly large windows (from one side only) From the experiments I have done at home, the flash seems to give the best results bounced straight up, can anyone with an sb 800 give any advice (pref with an example!) when do you use the diffuser? is it any good? (have had good results at home but weddings are a different kettle of fish) out door fill? (should I -the exp. bearing in mind I live in the uk and there probably won't be too much sunshine! Anyone religious, please pray for blue skies in the Bracknell area - at least no rain!), the effectiveness of the bounce card etc.

 

[redtippmann]

I think this is why man created ebay. I just purchased a "new" SB-800 from some one in South Korea for a fair price. I love it so far! Great little flash and the seller has some on there every once and a while. So you can probably pick another one up for $330 but those tend to have missing parts and complete packages cost around $370.

Oh and if you want to trade your SB-900 for a SB-800 I wouldnt mind But really.... I wouldn't. (we can talk later about it)